Marijuana and the Brain

What’s known about marijuana and the brain? Studies have shown for a long time that significant marijuana use while the brain’s still forming connections and maturing creates negative effects. This is from the National Institute on Drug Abuse:

“A large longitudinal study in New Zealand found that persistent marijuana use disorder with frequent use starting in adolescence was associated with a loss of an average of 6 or up to 8 IQ points measured in mid-adulthood.⁴³ Significantly, in that study, those who used marijuana heavily as teenagers and quit using as adults did not recover the lost IQ points. People who only began using marijuana heavily in adulthood did not lose IQ points. These results suggest that marijuana has its strongest long-term impact on young people whose brains are still busy building new connections and maturing in other ways. The endocannabinoid system is known to play an important role in the proper formation of synapses (the connections between neurons) during early brain development, and a similar role has been proposed for the refinement of neural connections during adolescence. If the long-term effects of marijuana use on cognitive functioning or IQ are upheld by future research, this may be one avenue by which marijuana use during adolescence produces its long-term effects.”

Young people who’re thinking about experimenting with pot should learn what effects pot can have on the brain. If a young person has life goals, such as going to college and learning a profession, smoking pot during the formative years is not wise. In todays technological society, it requires all the smarts a person has to compete and land a good job. 

But getting a good job is not the only reason. Pot can create a barrier between a young person and their parents, between the young person and their friends who don’t smoke pot, and between the young person and reality. From what we know about marijuana and the brain, the changes in perception places the young person in a different world, a different mindset, and at a time when the person’s forming their life views and establishing their values. When thinking’s altered so are values and perceptions altered, and the altered state probably conflicts with reality. The problem is that this is all happening as a young person is growing and maturing in ways that are complex and troublesome at times. If a young person’s constantly under the influence of a mood altering drug, you can see where this can lead to problems later on – difficulty processing experiences, worse problem solving abilities, poor memory, lower verbal comprehension, etc.

When a person’s grown and fully matured, it’s different. Pot still might cause problems but at least the mature person has learned enough coping skills to hopefully make corrections. If young people do their research and learn all that’s known about marijuana and the brain, especially the long term negative changes, they might decide it’s too risky – at least the young person will be informed, and knowledge is power.